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WENDY WATTA
SUSHI
101
Sushi is fast becoming one of the symbols of Nairobi as a high
living, pleasure-seeking, affluent African capital.
Popular it continues to become, however, some are still
hesitant to jump onto this fishy bandwagon.
For many, the idea of eating raw fish
is just too much to get their heads
around. Couple that with the common misconception that sushi has to
be eaten with chopsticks and there
are those that will simply avoid even
trying. Across the world though, there
are people of all races and creeds
that are crazy about this Japanese
food; they can’t all be insane, right?
Few things taste more amazing than
a piece of fish that just a few hours
earlier, was swimming around in the
sea and has now been cut into a
perfect rectangle that sits elegantly
on the plate in front of you. There
is nothing better in this world than
a piece of raw wild Alaskan salmon,
delicately placed on a sitting on a
pillow of sticky rice, coated with
a smear of wasabi to get the taste
buds tingling.
Really good fresh tuna has a firm
texture that allows your to savour it
gently, the aromas washing through
your mouth before you bite down
and release its intense fishy flavour.
A commonly held assumption, however, is that all sushi is made from
raw fish. Far from it: omelette, cooked
octopus, crab and shrimp, avocado
26.
and cucumber are all common ingredients that can be found in sushi.
Next time you’re invited to one of
Nairobi’s many delicious sushi establishments, muster up your courage
and dive right into the deep end.
GARI
In order to cleanse your palate between one sushi and the next, your
typical sushi dish will also feature
thinly-sliced sweet pickled ginger
known as gari.
Before doing so though, best brush
up on what it all means, so when
they present you with the menu, it’s
not all Japanese to you.
TYPES OF SUSHI:
Sushi is typically served with three
condiments:
WASABI
First is wasabi. A green paste made
from Japanese horseradish root. One
drop will clear sinuses you never
knew you had. Authentic wasabi
root is however expensive so you
can expect to find a version of it that
mixes mustard, horseradish and food
colouring in most establishments.
SOY SAUCE
There is a big debate over whether
to mix wasabi with your soy sauce in
the little bowl provided. Purists say
no, that it’s an insult to the chef; others wouldn’t have it any other way.
MAKI
This refers to layers of raw or cooked
fish, vegetables and vinegared
rice rolled in a sheet of dried nori
(roasted seaweed). There are many
variations of this roll: the hand roll,
for instance, is made by wrapping
sushi rice and other ingredients into
a cone shape. The popular California roll is made inside out (with the
rice outside the nori) and contains
cucumber, avocado and crab meat.
Different restaurants also often
have in-house specialties like black
dragon and rainbow rolls.
NIGIRI
This is sushi made by rolling sushi
rice into oval balls and topping them
off with a rectangle of your ingredient of choice. When eating nigiri,
just grasp the shari (rice ball) between your thumb and index finger;
chopsticks are really not a require-
ment. A small dollop of Wasabi will
have been smeared underneath the
fish. Traditionally, it is offensive to
add more, because it shows that you
don’t trust the chef. Always dip only
the fish side into your soy sauce;
dipping the rice side risks crumbling
the ball over the tablecloth before it
reaches your mouth.
SASHIMI
Sashimi is actually not sushi since
the term only refers to anything
made with vinegared rice. It is made
of slices of raw fish, but don’t smell
the meat because it shows that
you don’t trust the chef. Besides, if
you’re at a great restaurant - and you
can refer to our guide - it will most
certainly be good. Quality depends
on the freshness of the fish, the way
it is sliced, presented and garnished.
Make sure you use chopsticks here
though, this is the one exception
where hands are strictly not allowed.
In many ways, sushi is the ultimate
quest for perfection: the perfect fish,
the perfect freshness, the perfect
cut and the perfect presentation. So
if you’re on a quest for perfection,
make like the Japanese and get zen
in front of a plate of perfect sushi